


No Task Too Small

by greywing (ctrlx)



Series: End of 2013 Orphan Black Prompt Fills [4]
Category: Orphan Black (TV)
Genre: Gen, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-24
Updated: 2014-01-24
Packaged: 2018-01-09 19:47:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,712
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1150079
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ctrlx/pseuds/greywing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt: Canon Paul and Delphine and Mrs. S all trying to work together through some stressful situation.</p>
<p>The things you do out of love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Task Too Small

**Author's Note:**

> For [awildofnothing](http://awildofnothing.tumblr.com/), whose full prompt looked like this: Paul and Delphine and Mrs. S as members of a terrorist group and/ or a resistance group in a dystopian future. **Or just like just canon Paul and Delphine and Mrs. S all trying to work together through some stressful situation.** OR Felix and Kenzi interacting in any way whatsoever.

If anyone had asked, Delphine would have blamed the scissors. Never mind that the scissors had been in her hand, which had moved under the direction of electrical signals from her brain, which had concocted the whole scheme on some conscious level that Delphine might have acknowledged under pain of torture or, barring that, the full brunt of disappointment, sorrow, and disapproval that commingled in any of Cosima's hangdog expressions--which, it saddened Delphine to think, were directed her way with more frequency than she was comfortable quantifying or continually surrendering to.

Cosima, however, wasn't present and no one asked Delphine to explain herself. There was only the startling intrusion of Sarah's voice, abrasive and exasperated, growling, "Oh, _great_ idea, Delphine. What did you plan to do with that? Fix up a bunch of matching wigs and let the kids play 'pin the hair on the clone'?" 

Delphine gaped at Sarah, all the while holding the incriminating evidence stretched between her hands. Her wide-eyed confusion dredged a disgusted _augh_ from the mother, who turned on her booted heel and stormed out of the kitchen, strides long in impatience. Delphine watched her go.

Silence permeated the vacuum left by Sarah's exit. Paul looked at Delphine. He said, "For what it's worth . . . it's a nice paper doll chain."

Delphine dropped her gaze to the paper string of human figures joined at the hands dangling in the air before her. 

It really was.

/

It was a few minutes later, when the ill-conceived paper doll chain had been put aside for the construction of safer (for the wellbeing of the crafter) paper ring streamers, that Delphine Cormier turned to the man sitting beside her inexplicably--inexplicably because Delphine would have dearly loved to learn how Cosima convinced the taller, military-trained Paul Dierden that he, and not Cosima, should stay inside and dole out items into gift bags while she, conspicuous bespectacled and dreadlocked clone subject, frolicked outside with Kira to hang up signs and balloons in full view of any of their lingering enemies--and asked, "How did we arrive here, doing these things?"

/

_"A birthday party? For Kira?" Alison said. "Of course, we'll come. What games do you have planned? What are you thinking about putting in the favor bags? What food will you serve?"_

_"What?" Sarah barked back, bewildered. "There's gonna be pizza and cake, innit that enough?"_

_"Oh, Sarah." Alison sighed. "A child's birthday party is a very big event in her life. These celebrations take planning and preparation. If you need any help, I've put together plenty of--"_

_"I don't need your help, thanks," Sarah snapped testily into the phone. "I got it covered."_

_"Are you sure? The first time is the most difficult to prepare--"_

_"Saturday," Sarah cut her off. "Don't forget. I'll see you then."_

/

"And where is Alison?" Delphine wondered aloud, taping the ends of another strip of colored paper in the lengthening chain. "Are she and her children coming? You would think that since Alison probably has experience putting together birthday parties for children that Sarah would have asked her to help."

Paul shrugged. "I'm here because Sarah asked if I would be on security detail. 'Just in case.' I didn't know that that would mean--" He dropped a lollipop into a small plastic bag smattered with a dynamically colorful pattern of stars. "--this."

In the kitchen, pulling out party platters from the refrigerator and procuring plastic utensils and paper plates from cabinets, Siobhan Sadler chuckled to herself. "Listen to you two nattering. You'd think this was the strangest thing any of them ever demanded of you."

Paul and Delphine exchanged looks loaded with lists of unmentionable activities each had engaged in for these women. Siobhan had a point. Playing party helpers might not have made the top ten.

Sarah's voice drifted down from the second floor: "Anyone seen Kira?"

"You tell her," Delphine and Paul said simultaneously.

/

"You're telling me you let _Cos_ take Kira outside?" Sarah fixed Paul with open-mouthed incredulity. "Paul, seriously. You're the one with the--"

The front door swung open with a cheerful, "Oi, oi!"

"Felix!" Paul greeted the recent arrival with enthusiasm. Sarah whirled around to confront the interruption with a look that petrified Felix in the doorway with the efficacy of Medusa.

"Oi, oi, you're late," Siobhan hollered back. "But just in time to go with Sarah to fetch back the little ones so that we can finish up here already." 

At Siobhan's words Sarah whipped back around, arms crossed, angry retort at the ready. From beyond her Felix sent his foster mother an expression that pleaded for mercy. Hands on her hips, Siobhan glared from one to the other with eyes stern enough to stall any protest. "Don't just stand there dawdling. Get on with it!" 

Felix jolted into action at the crack of Siobhan's voice. He edged toward his fuming foster sister and hesitantly slipped his hand into the crook of her elbow. "Come on, Sarah."

Jaw squared, Sarah held Siobhan's gaze for another beat. Then she shrugged off Felix's touch and stomped out the front door ahead of him. Felix spared the trio in the kitchen a glance filled with questions. Paul and Delphine gazed back at him blankly. Siobhan shooed him with a hand. Sighing, shoulders slumping, looking put upon as only a taxed little brother could, Felix tugged at the lapels of his jacket and jogged off after Sarah, calling out, "Sarah! Oi, Sarah, wait up!"

The front door shut behind Felix with a slam, carried by the momentum of his haste. Delphine turned to Paul. "I have been wondering, actually: why did you let Cosima go out with Kira alone?"

Paul swiped absentmindedly at his chin and blinked at Delphine a few times. "Honestly?" He shrugged. "I thought they were upstairs waiting for you to finish making decorations so they could hang them up. I didn't notice them go outside." A hand gestured feebly at the favor bags littering the kitchen table. "I was sort of occupied."

Delphine stared into his face, speechless. With a whoop of delighted laughter, Siobhan clapped Paul on the shoulder. He bore their reactions stoically, expression betraying nothing.

/

After a moment, Delphine addressed Siobhan. "Did you refer to Cosima as a 'little one'?"

"Did it strike you as inaccurate?" Siobhan challenged.

"She's not . . . little," Delphine said slowly. "Not a child."

"But she's not Sarah," Paul pointed out. With two pairs of eyes on her, Delphine nodded contemplatively.

A second later, they all chorused, "Or Alison."

Delphine cocked her head. "So are we positing that Cosima is closer in, in spirit?--to Kira than she is to Sarah or Alison?"

Siobhan laughed. "How else do you explain she and Kira taking over half an hour to hang up signs?"

/

The house was quiet with Felix and Sarah hunting down her wayward child and her even more wayward geeky science sister-clone--and, hopefully, with Felix calming Sarah along the way. The relative privacy afforded by the absences provided Paul the opportunity to ask, "What did you get Kira?"

Delphine smiled to herself. "A microscope kit. Cosima's idea." Her eyes narrowed in concern. "I think she may have felt more excitement buying it for Kira than Kira might feel receiving it." Delphine shrugged. "If that proves to be the case, I hope Cosima won't be disappointed." She glanced sidelong at Paul. "What did you get Kira?"

"Books." Paul thumbed the edge of a strip of paper. "Coloring books. Puzzle books. A teddy bear." He picked up the opposite end of the streamer in Delphine's hands and looped the strip through it. "They seemed like safe bets. I went with them before."

"Before?" Delphine asked, breaking off a strip of scotch tape and holding it out to him.

"Yeah, when--" 

The front door opened and a flood of voices cut off Paul, first and foremost Sarah saying, "I'm sorry, Monkey, but you know how Mrs. S feels about pets."

"But he was hungry and sick," Kira objected softly.

"And dirty and probably full of fleas. Which is why you shouldn't have touched him," Sarah added with a pointed glance over her shoulder. Shuffling in behind her, Cosima spread her hands.

"He approached us!" Cosima protested. "Could you have refused that cute little face and those pitiful meows?"

"Yes, obviously," Felix commented. "She left him back there, didn't she?" 

"Fe!" Sarah berated him. Turning to Kira, whose head was bowed though she hadn't let go of her mother's hand, Sarah sighed. "We'll--we'll bring him something to eat later, okay?"

Kira lifted her head, face filled with hope. "Really?"

"Really. You think he'd like pizza and cake?"

Kira frowned at her mother. "Cats don't eat pizza and cake, Mum."

"Really?" Sarah squatted before her daughter so that they were of a level. "Why not? Monkeys do."

"Monkeys don't eat cake and pizza either," Kira said.

"You sure?" Sarah sang. Her free hand darted out and tickled Kira's tummy. "Because I know one that does!"

Kira squirmed away from her mother, whose smile grew into a grin. Sarah craned her neck back and eyed Felix, busy hanging up his jacket. "Speaking of, I didn't see you bring in the cake."

Felix stilled. Turning around slowly, he said, "I thought you were picking up the cake."

Sarah stared up at him. "No. I told you to."

"No, I swear you said that it was taken care of," Felix insisted.

"No, I said you were taking care of it," Sarah said flatly and with finality. 

The entire room held a breath. 

"We have no cake," Sarah summarized. " _Fe_ \--"

"I'll get the cake," Paul said quickly, standing up to the accompaniment of scraping chair legs. He pulled out of a ring of keys from a pocket, held them aloft, and gave them a jingling shake. "It won't take long."

Sarah turned to him. "You? Alone?"

"I'll go with him," Felix said feebly.

Sarah looked from one man to the other. "You two?"

"Well, since you're going," Siobhan chimed in, "why don't you pick up some soda pop? And maybe some crackers? And make sure to get candles. Oh, and we could use more napkins." Felix, Paul, and Sarah gawped at her with varying degrees of surprise and confusion. "You know, why don't I just go with Paul and the rest of you can finish setting up here?" Siobhan smiled and folded her hands, turning to Paul before anyone could offer an opinion. "Shall we? Oh, and Sarah," she added, "you know where to find the shotgun if you need it."

/

Loaded up with cake, candles, and other party essentials, it was during the drive back from the supermarket that Siobhan said, "What's on your mind?"

Paul briefly glanced away from the road and at the woman in his passenger seat who sat studying him patiently. "What do you mean?"

"I mean what's been bothering you all day?" Siobhan tilted her head. "Sarah pressing you into service?"

Paul shrugged. "That's no big deal. It's not the worst assignment I've had to undertake."

"Something about Sarah, then?" Siobhan pressed.

Paul squinted out the windshield. A minute passed in silence. Siobhan waited.

"Kira really is her daughter," he said simply.

Siobhan nodded. "Yes. She is." 

Paul's head bobbed up and down in agreement. He said nothing more. 

Siobhan regarded him openly. At last, she turned and settled on the moving scenery beyond the passenger window. "You're not the only one who has to get used to the idea. She's feeling her way around right now and she's the type what needs a lot of room to do so. Stillness won't come to her overnight. But--" Siobhan peered over at Paul. "--it helps to have reasons to slow down."

/ 

"No," Sarah's voice carried through the opening front door and and greeted the returning Siobhan and Paul. "We're not hanging that up."

"But it's awesome!" Cosima declared, holding up the paper doll chain. The scientist clone proffered it at Delphine. "Did you make it?"

"Yes," Delphine admitted reluctantly. She broke off from the decorating efforts to see if Paul and Siobhan needed assistance. They didn't, but she liberated Siobhan of a bag anyway to have a pretense of escaping Sarah's tracking eyes, which didn't retreat from her form as Delphine made her way to the kitchen.

"Should we hang it up?" Cosima asked Kira.

"Can we decorate it first?" Kira asked.

"We totally should!" Cosima agreed.

"Oi, Delphine!" Sarah called out. "Get over here and get your girl under control."

"Hey!" Cosima objected. 

With her back to Sarah, Delphine's eyebrows rose. Under her breath, she mumbled, "If I could control Cosima, does she think we'd be late all the time?"

Stifled chuckles and snickers answered her. Delphine raised her head, scanned Paul's and Siobhan's faces, and shrugged. 

They shrugged back. Each understood perfectly. 

/

"How do you do it?" Delphine asked quietly as she arranged crackers and slices of cheese on a plate. She glanced up to assess the situation in the living room--Felix and Paul lending their height to string streamers up higher, Cosima and Kira sprawled and crouched on the floor adding flourishes to the streamers yet to go up, Sarah supervising with arms crossed.

"Do what?" Siobhan asked.

Delphine frowned. "Not . . . manage Sarah, but . . ."

Siobhan laughed. "What in the world makes you think that child ever listened to a word I said?"

Delphine raised an eyebrow at the older woman. "You're the only one she listens to."

Laughter rolled out of Siobhan again, rueful. "When she chooses to. It's not obedience with Sarah; it's choice. Understanding that will make your life easier--though I find it hard to imagine Cosima giving you that type of trouble."

"They are more alike than either can recognize," Delphine remarked. "Stubborn runs in their blood."

Siobhan patted her arm. "I'm almost sorry to hear that, luv. But it's that bullheadedness that makes them fight for what they want. For what they love."

Delphine fell quiet. Then she smiled. "And makes them think they're always right."

"Oh," Siobhan drawled, "but isn't it sweet when they finally admit they've been wrong?"

/

Alison arrived first, thirty minutes early, to the squealing delight of Kira, Gemma, and Oscar, who paid their respects to the adults and promptly forgot they existed. (With the possible exceptions of Cosima and Felix, who were on the floor with Kira playing a game of Jenga that might have been serving as a primer in engineering and physics as Cosima took to making the tower of blocks lean and pitch to everyone else's amazement and complaints.)

"Well," Alison said, placing two fingers beneath her jaw and surveying the room, "not bad for a first effort."

Sarah might have growled. Quickly placing a hand on Sarah's arm, Siobhan called out to the children. "Luvs, why don't we place the presents over here on the table?" She turned a smile on Alison. "Alison, dear, won't you help me ready the refreshments?"

Alison beamed. "Of course, I'd love to help."

"Maybe help yourself to a glass of wine, too, yeah?" Sarah muttered.

"I wouldn't refuse one if you offered," Alison said, cheerfully.

Delphine, overhearing, scrambled to her feet. "I'll open a bottle. If you could just show me where the wine opener is?"

Falling into step with Siobhan as the hostess ushered Alison and children into the kitchen, Delphine exchanged a look with Siobhan that simply conveyed: _More alike than either can recognize._

/

At the sight of children and guardians making their way down the sidewalk smiling, laughing, squealing, somber, skipping, trudging, shuffling through the gate, and toward the front door, Paul, red plastic cup of apple juice in hand, said, "Are we ready for this?"

"Ready or not, here they come," Siobhan said goodnaturedly.

"Did we ever discuss how we would explain the striking resemblance between Sarah, Alison, and Cosima?" Delphine asked no one in particular.

Silence reigned.

"Triplets?" Paul suggested hesitantly.

They looked at each other.

"Coincidence?" Delphine offered in turn.

"Coincidence," they agreed. Frowns slowly conquered their expressions.

"Maybe we shouldn't answer at all," Delphine said.

"Pretend not to notice," Paul concurred.

"It's as a good a plan as any we've come up with in the past," Siobhan concluded with a shrug.

The doorbell chimed.


End file.
